HephMod: a mod combo-pack emphasizing balance, realism, and historical flavor

[Hephaistion]

Beta B has been uploaded (see first post for link)

Spoiler :

HephMod Beyond Changelog
January 6, 2010

***** BETA B *****

Updated RevDCM to version 2.61
Civics RevIndex changes
Added 3 more guild wonders (for a total of five)
Added Coffee, Clay and Timber (+25% production bonus to age of sail naval units) resources
Fixed Blitzkrieg and Power Projection Promo Trees; nerfed Imperial Glory, Holy Fervor, Trained Archers and Trench Warfare a bit; Power Proj changed to incorporate strength bonuses because AI doesn't use them
Reduced chances of top three hero promotions occurring (same chance for getting a hero promo, but more likely to be Exceptional or Extraordinary)
Drill promotions now reduce upgrade cost [thanks Winston]
Interception promos now give a bonus vs. Helicopter units
Reduce Napalm promo bonus vs. Gun units to +50% from +100%
Fixed Ranged Bombardment
Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance doctrine promos each increase upgrade cost +10% [thanks Winston]
Trench warfare now obsoletes with Industrialism
Macemen require Iron (not Iron OR Copper), signifying late Antique/Medieval advances in armor
Aggressive trait now gives Combat I to melee and ARMOR units
Cannon strength increased to 9 and Gun+ adjusted to 30%
IDW Emergency Draft only affects cities of 6 or more population
Professional Army now gives +4 xp; standing army and nationhood now give +25% GG each; Mercantilism -50% distance maintenance
Helicopters now start with Amphibious (they were getting penalties for attacking across a river)

NEW NEGATIVE TRAIT FEATURES: each trait comes with a corresponding negative effect, generally half as potent as its positive counterpart

@Jaybe: Thanks for the input. I hadn't considered the problem of scale in number of units allowed (I always play standard size maps, so I always think of balance in the same terms). I would LOVE to see the proportional system you mentioned implemented -- I can't see how one would do that without some really original Pythoning that is beyond my capabilities (if you see anything out there in civworld that does something LIKE THAT, please let me know, as I might be able to work it out if I had a good starting point and some advice from the codeheads). I wouldn't have a problem starting national units with doctrine promo level 1, but since the doctrine system is already in place, I wouldn't want to give those units any additional abilities (though I would like to shop around for some cool graphics to represent elite units).

I'll be out of commission for a while now (away from computer, busy with personal stuff), but I wanted to get out the current version out to you folks for more playtesting. I haven't seen a crash in many moons, and this update is mostly tweaking and balancing and minor bug hunting, though I've added in all the guild wonders that I want in there (more would be unbalanced, I think) and a handful of modular resources (just take them out if you don't want them). This is a stable build that is well-balanced, I think ... not long now before the full release.

 

[Puer]

Hi, i playing your mod and found a event bug - see the pic for more details.


Also attached auto savegames.

 

[Hephaistion]

Thanks for the post, Dafy. I've seen this one before -- it's a RevDCM bug. I'll forward it to their bug reports forum when I have the chance.

 

[Puer]

Thanks for the post, Dafy. I've seen this one before -- it's a RevDCM bug. I'll forward it to their bug reports forum when I have the chance.

I already reported this & others event related bugs to RevDCM thread

 

[Puer]

Hi Hephaistion, please explain hurry production overflow logic.

Please see the pic - clicking 'hurry' button results work boat will be finish next turn. Additionally next work boat will be cost only 1 hammer next turn (not 30 hammers, why?) and will be finished round after that :S
Is this a bug or feature? (seems to be overpowered). By clicking hurry production once i will recive 2 work boats in 3 turns.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mnj0rgnqmmm/bug.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[trotty]

hi, nice mod but i had a crash. I think it's the foundation of islam with divine right, I leave it behind becouse it crashed, but maybe it's something else.

 

[Hephaistion]

Hi Hephaistion, please explain hurry production overflow logic.

Please see the pic - clicking 'hurry' button results work boat will be finish next turn. Additionally next work boat will be cost only 1 hammer next turn (not 30 hammers, why?) and will be finished round after that :S
Is this a bug or feature? (seems to be overpowered). By clicking hurry production once i will recive 2 work boats in 3 turns.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mnj0rgnqmmm/bug.CivBeyondSwordSave

My understanding is that hurry production using population works according to formula of each population point = so many production points, so if a work boat only costs approximately half a person, then you could build two in a row. Don't forget also that your city is getting its regular production each turn as well. I don't think it's overpowered, since population points are a valuable commodity!

 

[Puer]

I just finished this Beta B game & this was superb (Sitting Bull, Marathon, Emperor, AD1905) Thanks Hephaistion! No major bugs noticed (except RevDCM related event bugs).

 

[Jaybe]

Doctrinal upgrade penalties were not implemented after PROMOTION_ENGINEERCORPS3. Leaving Trench, Blitzkrieg* & BlitzkriegAir, Artillery*, Projection & ProjectionAir, GuerillaWar, and Napalm* without upgrade handicaps.

* I find these promos particularly powerful, especially after later upgrades.

 

[attackfighter]

The barbarians aren't very fair in this mod... in my current game I beelined straight to archery, but 2 barbarian skirmishers and one warrior came and destroyed me before I could get my first archer out. I even reloaded and built a few additional warriors to defend, but the barbarian skirmishers are just too strong

I don't know anything about modding, but if there's a way to stop restrict barbarians from getting early skirmishers I'd really recommend it, there's nothing fun about getting instant killed on really intresting starts (I had this really cool inland sea thing on a terra map)

 

[Jaybe]

attackfighter, try again with a new game. With more emphasis on unit production, of course. This mod delays early development (for EVERYone) with the higher barb threat. You may want to lower your difficulty level, or for a real EASY game, turn off raging barbarians at Custom Game setup.

I would recommend producing more units. I play at Prince level. It took me a few games initially to reliably survive also, at Noble.

 

[Hephaistion]

The barbarians aren't very fair in this mod... in my current game I beelined straight to archery, but 2 barbarian skirmishers and one warrior came and destroyed me before I could get my first archer out. I even reloaded and built a few additional warriors to defend, but the barbarian skirmishers are just too strong

I don't know anything about modding, but if there's a way to stop restrict barbarians from getting early skirmishers I'd really recommend it, there's nothing fun about getting instant killed on really intresting starts (I had this really cool inland sea thing on a terra map)

In a Monarch Epic game, barbarian skirmishers don't usually appear until around 2200 BC or so. What difficulty are you playing at?

Jaybe's advice is good, though sometimes the random nature of game/map setup just screws you over. If you can focus on getting a few units out, you can also reduce barbarian spawning by fortifying units on hills near your cities. Barbarians only spawn in squares that you can't see, so keeping watch over your immediate territory not only reduces spawning, but the tendency of the barbs will be to go for your watch units, being closer, rather than your cities. If you're really in a pinch where you can't build enough units fast enough, prioritize production in your first city rather than growth, either manually or by clicking the hammer in the governor panel in the city screen. If you really love your initial map and you simply can't find a way around this but want to keep playing your game, CHEAT! Bring up the worldbuilder with CTRL-W and give yourself an archer!

I'd try a few more games before giving up on the default barb settings altogether, but if you still think it's too unfair, as Jaybe said, play custom games with Raging Barbarians turned off.

 

[attackfighter]

In a Monarch Epic game, barbarian skirmishers don't usually appear until around 2200 BC or so. What difficulty are you playing at?

Jaybe's advice is good, though sometimes the random nature of game/map setup just screws you over. If you can focus on getting a few units out, you can also reduce barbarian spawning by fortifying units on hills near your cities. Barbarians only spawn in squares that you can't see, so keeping watch over your immediate territory not only reduces spawning, but the tendency of the barbs will be to go for your watch units, being closer, rather than your cities. If you're really in a pinch where you can't build enough units fast enough, prioritize production in your first city rather than growth, either manually or by clicking the hammer in the governor panel in the city screen. If you really love your initial map and you simply can't find a way around this but want to keep playing your game, CHEAT! Bring up the worldbuilder with CTRL-W and give yourself an archer!

I'd try a few more games before giving up on the default barb settings altogether, but if you still think it's too unfair, as Jaybe said, play custom games with Raging Barbarians turned off.

I was playing emperor and I did have raging barbarians turned off. Also I don't think you're understanding how fast these barbarians came: I immediately researched hunting and then archery, with no detours, yet they arrived before I could build a single archer. Also, I didn't neglect my defences either, I built 2 warriors on top of the 2 warriors the game starts me with (although the two initial ones were out scouting). The problem with skirmishers is that they're about as strong as a fortified warrior - until you get archery you're pretty much gambling that no barbarians swing by.

Btw, I'd never consider opening world builder and I'm even apprehensive to reload. As soon as I cheat I lose intrest in the game, so it's not a very valid awnser for me (and for others too I'm sure).

Edit: to be fair I'll mention that in 9/10 of my games this doesn't happen. It's just very frusterating when it does...

 

[Hephaistion]

I was playing emperor and I did have raging barbarians turned off. Also I don't think you're understanding how fast these barbarians came: I immediately researched hunting and then archery, with no detours, yet they arrived before I could build a single archer. Also, I didn't neglect my defences either, I built 2 warriors on top of the 2 warriors the game starts me with (although the two initial ones were out scouting). The problem with skirmishers is that they're about as strong as a fortified warrior - until you get archery you're pretty much gambling that no barbarians swing by.

Btw, I'd never consider opening world builder and I'm even apprehensive to reload. As soon as I cheat I lose intrest in the game, so it's not a very valid awnser for me (and for others too I'm sure).

Edit: to be fair I'll mention that in 9/10 of my games this doesn't happen. It's just very frusterating when it does...

Ah, well that explains it! This game is harder than a normal civ game and it's supposed to be, so it's hard for me to take your complaint seriously that in 9 out of 10 EMPEROR level games you can't even get off the ground. Seriously enough to see it as a problem with the build, that is. Every difficulty level above Prince is designed to be unfair, not just in my mod, but in regular civ, too, and abortive games go with the territory. I think you'll just have to accept that.

Well, maybe not. One other thing you could do would be to cut and paste all the barbarian-related tags from Assets/XML/GameInfo/HandicapInfo from a lower difficulty section into the Emperor section, or just alter them as you see fit. This way you could play an Emperor game in all other respects, but the barbarians would be spawned as if it were Monarch (or whatever).

 

[Sergeant Hulka]

I've only been playing this mod for a few weeks, but want to thank Hephaistion for all the effort; it looks like a terrific mod. One question: I'm a (very) amateur mod-modder, and noticed that the python zCivics module had been in the earlier version of HephMod, but is no longer present in the new beta. Is it gone for good, or will be reappear in a later version?

I realize zCivics is a little kludge-y, but I like having the ability to tie units and buildings to a particular civics choice (I've been experimenting with having two distinct civics choices available for Catholic-Protestant and Sunni-Shia, as a shorthand way of handling religious schisms, and zCivics made that very easy).

 

[Jaybe]

Posted at Civilization Fanatics' Forums > CIVILIZATION IV > Civ4 - Creation & Customization > Civ4 - Modpacks > RevolutionDCM for BTS, post #2580

I had a traumatic experience today playing Hephmod Beyond Beta.B mod (incorporates RevDCM version 2.61).

An invading force of foot, horse & a dozen trebs were 2 tiles from one of my cities. I had 5 or 6 crossbows/pikes/praets on a hill adjacent to them, and 4-5 more in an adjacent jungle (some damaged after attacking with them). Several of the trebs were damaged by flank attacks, my horse having withdrawn to the city*. During the AI turn, I had notice of their trebs executing opportunity fire.

When it was my turn again, I had only one praet in the jungle. Everyone else was just GONE . There were no messages of their being attacked (other than the opp. fire). I would have expected any damage to be limited to the trebs' iCombatLimit or iCollateralDamageLimit.

This was my first experience of opp. fire on such a massive scale. In a previous game, when there were only 1-3 units executing opp. fire, the results seemed quite reasonable.

--
*Something I've always had difficulty with is the collateral damage a damaged siege unit would cause. I would prefer a 1/3 strength siege unit to cause no more than 1/3 of its iCollateralDamageLimit (even if it was MY siege unit)!

 

[hachejay]

Thanks for the recent update to this Hephaistion, even though I've only just noticed it! I have been using this mod as the base mod for all my custom games for a while now, mostly without too much trouble, but I have today been trying to merge your latest build with the 2.71 update to RevDCM because of it's superior multiplayer compatability fixes. I have this working completely fine except for the diplomacy screen. For some reason whenever a leader pops up to say hello or whatever there is no speech or response options available. I don't suppose you could help out my limited modding knowledge on this game with which file(s) it is that might control this? I have had no luck in everything I've tried so far. Cheers!



...on a side note I also noticed while attempting the latest build of this network that my computer using the bluemarble terrain add ons for some reason couldn't display the religion advisor screen correctly, when uninstalled it displayed fine.



edit: I have fixed the diplomacy screen not showing anything, i think it was Assets/Python/EntryPoints/CvDiplomacyInterface.py that was causing the issue, possibly because the updated RevDCM doesn't use it? however it is now not displaying text for when a computer is bragging about it's military properly (see screen shot), saying NO_UNIT instead of the name of the unit it has recently built. I've checked the xml files for diplomacy speech and CvTranslator and can't see any errors, does anyone know what this problem might be?

thanks again.

 

[jamesluck]

Thank you, Hephaiston, for providing me the best civ experience ever. I've played all the big mods around here, but this small download here made me finally satisfied. I've only one some small wish left: built-in blue marble graphics would be really nice. However, now I can play and die.

 

[Hephaistion]

I haven't been around for a while now, but it seems that folks are enjoying Beta B and I'm psyched to hear it! Personal and professional life, or the desire for one, have interfered with modding time, so I haven't touched HephMod in a while.

@Hachejay: thanks for this bug post. Whenever a new RevDCM build comes out, I try to update HephMod to match it. I don't play multiplayer, but I certainly want others to be able to and will try to address this for the next release. I don't have a lot of programming skill, but I have A LOT of experience working with the python files for this mod, so maybe I'll catch something and figure it out.

@jamesluck: thank you so much for your kind words ... it inspires me to continue working on the mod and makes me feel that all my work is worthwhile (though its primary motivation, I admit, is selfish, because I want to make the game just like I want it to be!). I already had Blue Marble on my computer and it uses the "Custom Files" folder, something I don't know that I want to include in HephMod, both because of size and because I don't want HephMod to alter in any way any individual's civ build when they're not playing the mod.

HephMod's come a long way since its beginnings and I finally feel like its pretty much done, though of course updating and tweaking will continue, with the occasional new feature if I feel it is warranted and desired. Before my hiatus, I was working on a merge of HephMod with Varietas Delectat. Is this something that would interest people?

 

[Hephaistion]

Well, been playing Civ 5 for the past few days and, despite the rave reviews throughout the gamer media world, I'm pretty disappointed. It feels like when they "streamlined" the game, what they actually did was dumb it down a lot to make it more marketable to people who aren't niche strategy gamers. Just one man's opinion. While I'm sure we're going to see a whole host of mods fixing Civ 5 very quickly, at this point I'm not convinced why I should start modding a whole new game all over again when I prefer to play Hephmod Civ 4!

At the moment, I have a Hephmod Beyond build successfully merged with Varietas Delectat that I very much enjoy. It's been a rough year at the Heph house, so I haven't done more than tweaking (besides the VD merge) in all these months since I said the final release wasn't far away. I tried to get the Far Frontiers code that lets Civics give production bonuses to specific, Python-defined unit types to work so Military civics would let you build certain unit types more quickly, but failed, so that feature probably won't be in the next release. I'd like to implement an updated Better Bts AI, but the current version of RevDCM (2.772) has some major bugs that even the gifted modders on that project are having trouble coping with, so I'm staying with good ole' 2.61 for the moment.

Playing Civ 5 has, however lackluster parts of the experience have been, inspired me to think about more ways to improve HephMod, so I hope to make some more tweaks and possibly add a feature or two soon and get another release out there.

In the meantime, I'm uploading the merge with Varietas Delectat as BETA C. This version should not include any changes other than the flavor units unique to each civilization that come with Varietas.

UPDATE: BETA C is now uploaded and the download links are active -- civfanatics went into "server is too busy" in the middle of my post yesterday, so I couldn't finish editing my links/download info.